


Night and Day

by cleonsyk (lrviolet)



Series: The Royals [2]
Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ, EXO (Band), Red Velvet (K-pop Band), SHINee, Super Junior, f(x), 소녀시대 | Girls' Generation | SNSD
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Royalty, F/M, Fantasy, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 15:32:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5095886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lrviolet/pseuds/cleonsyk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four years after the battle at Baekham Bridge, the next heir to the throne of Sangdokchi is none other than the young Krystal herself - who faces greater dilemma than her brother Prince Changmin when he was crowned as the incumbent ruler of the kingdom. Four years after, Krystal, the princess brave enough to cast hearts to fall in love, and to fall out of it, the princess strong enough to discover and oppress the power of the Byungmi siblings' rings, must choose her fate wisely for she cannot make the same mistakes the past has shown her. She must choose if marriage is the only key in protecting her kingdom and her brother, or if she just could ride away with the masked Robin Hood into an adventure she'll never forget.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Unwilling Princess

**Author's Note:**

> So this is what happened right after Someone Other than Me. Though not entirely necessary that the first part is read, some knowledge about the au is sorta good to catch up with the story.

Engagement Party. That's something new indeed.

The morning everyone in the kingdom has anticipated finally comes. Prince Changmin forfeits the crown due to his unstable condition – heart failures and seldom the inability to walk – the coronation was yet again delayed to four more years, passed down to the last successor of the great historical Sangdokchi: Krystal.

She’s been dreading this day, all its wrongness keeping her uneasy and thinking, for the wrong reasons that is. It’s all a mousetrap, luring her into the cage with the cheese and then locking her up. Why would Sangdokchi ever want a queen like her?

She played with taboo magic, and if they’d known the remarkable miracles she’d done to save the nation, they would never believe it. To name a few, she created a love potion to have Changmin and Yoona falling in love with each other (although it wore off completely after the next 24 hours, they stuck together), gave Prince Kibum a revival potion that was later used to save her own brother, and  devised an escape plan in the middle of getting caught. Her cleverness is often masked by her childishness and pessimism towards everything and maybe that was why her kingdom had doubts of her maturity and wisdom in leading a growing state like theirs.

But she isn’t a child anymore. She is getting engaged to a man she has never been romantically involved with (if you count kissing on the cheek as romantic, because that is all they have gotten themselves into and no feelings attached).  _Love is not important now_ , she can hear the queen repeating it in her head, like an echo, as if it hasn’t been engraved deep into every fiber of her body by now. She knows duty will always be above anything else but what if she ends up being like her sister-in-law Yoona? What if her way with witchcraft (being banned in their nation), once publicized, be the reason for her exile? And who would rule over Sangdokchi by then?

“You’re so deep in thought.”

“Engagement,” she whispers, letting his smell linger a minute more, holding him so closely and afraid to even open her eyes. She’s been crying again.

“I do not wish to be tied to him. Especially to him, of all people.”

“I said I can wait,” he utters, planting a small kiss on her forehead as he takes away her hands off of his shirt. “But it doesn’t mean I’m giving you up. You’ll always be mine, Krystal. Remember that. We’ll get out of this mess. Trust me.”

She smiles after hearing his assuring words. With closed eyes, and the hours of the bedroom clock ticking in the dawn, she can feel the morning air gushing in from the balcony window, and the smell of the lavender blooming from below by the courtyard; but alas, she no longer feels his touch beside her or how velvet his voice will ring in her ear. Not in a long time, she figures.

The masked gentleman has disappeared into the sunrise.

When she opens her eyes, reality greets her. And her true prince, always hiding in the shadows, returns to the world where he belongs.

She hears a knock on her door and realizes it’s going to be quite a long day indeed. She pulls the book that seemed to have slept in between them all this time, taken aback by the letter against page 63 and 64 of  _Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet_. It is a letter she has been quietly reading nights and nights before today (yet she has not cried about it; because she isn’t like those weak Byungmi princesses), memorizes every dot and point, every quote he leaves, all the favorite ones from that specific play they both read together. He leaves her a little while back and asks her to trust him. Trust him, that coward! For four straight years, he has chosen to hide his face from her and only in kissing and making love he decides to reveal the lips Krystal will always want to kiss.

And so she scowls before directing a “come in” to the person behind her door. It’s just Yoona, one of the Byungmi princesses.

Krystal maintains her indifference to show she’s always been uninterested of her presence, such a mundane woman who’s enchanted her older brother nonetheless.

“You okay?” It is the first thing she always asks from Krystal. If ever she is all right or doing well – but Krystal always makes a face. Of course, she isn’t one to tell Yoona everything’s turning out disastrous. She isn’t her sister to start with, and she sometimes wish Yoona would stop acting like one (or something close to a mother, when she already has one herself. Yoona acts out every role in the palace, it just annoys Krystal to no end.)

The younger princess bobs her head as she pulled her hair back, closing as well the book and crossing her legs so that Yoona can comfortably sit beside her. “Is something bothering you?”

“Just nervous, I guess. I’ll be fine. No need to worry, I promise.” Somehow she realizes how hard it is to lie to Yoona than it was to Changmin, and Krystal prays she won’t take any hints of it.

Krystal feels her gaze going up and down, before Yoona speaks, “How is he, then? How is he taking all of this?”

And then it hits her: Yoona is someone like Krystal, in another dimension and she is meeting her like it is the first time.

Surprised at the question, Krystal averts her eyes, bites her lips. “He’s bound to be all right.  We’re just both nervous. We’re only twenty and ruling a kingdom entirely is... effort. I don’t like effort.”              

“You don’t have to do this, darling,” Yoona inches closer, holding her face in both of her palms. “If you don’t love him, you don’t have force yourself.”

She is honestly right (as always then, Yoona will always be right). But what can she still do now? Disappoint the kingdom of Honsang just because she declines marrying their asshole of a duke? Krystal can’t do such a thing; the boy is still her friend some time before and although she has not recently met up with him, she remembers his name as much as what he is to Krystal. Acquaintances, but not as close as he is with Princess Sulli, his cousin from Hayanchul, Krystal’s best and most trusted friend.

Still, she has to marry him no matter what happens. She has to have a king by her side, has to rule over Sangdokchi and she can’t do it merely by herself.

Krystal grins, looking into her unnie’s eyes. “But you didn’t back out from marrying my brother. I suppose that can be an example? I don’t think I have to love him like how you’ve mindlessly did for Changmin, since I have no intention of having a little Minwoo either. When Minwoo’s twenty, he’ll take over. I’ll be free. Sixteen more years, right?”

“You can always back out now,” Yoona suggests, as though taking Krystal’s side. “Now come down and have breakfast with us. We need to prepare you for tonight, understand?” She stands up, her hair shorter than Krystal has remembered it from four years ago, but her smiles always the same, always pure and accepting. One way or another Yoona’s still such a blessing to the kingdom, and her fairytale already a happily-ever-after.

She leaves, and Krystal takes the book once more, reads the letter happily as if it wasn’t something to cry upon. There are blots of ink when he wrote it, the way his penmanship was always so messy. It makes her laugh quietly.

“I can’t love him...” She then said, her eyes starting to be teary. “It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that I can’t.”

Her heart belongs to someone else. And a heart oppressed against duty to the kingdom, is never a heart ready for any battle.


	2. Untold Story

He douses in the frosty river, behind the waterfalls at the first light. He has to get her scent off of him. Scrubs, brushes. At some point, his fist connects the wall, and it hurts as much as his ego slowly begging him to stop adhering the pain, but he can’t seem to care less. There were much, much more painful things he has been considering the past two hours.

After his bath, he picks up his washed clothes, tracks the forest back to a little home in the middle where a chimney burned a bit and that kept the wolves away from lingering to this side of the mountains, where a merchant and his overly protective wife and their brooding daughter lives for the past 29 years. A mile away, he can already smell the stew for breakfast, so he quickens his pace and reaches the porch, brushing the winter out of them. Today marks the first day of Spring.

He enters in the kitchen, floor crustily creaking. To his surprise, he isn’t scolded today for getting the place dirty, like a dog barging in after his ceaseless digging in the wild. And another surprise goes to show it is not his surrogate mother cooking today.

“Seulgi? Up at this hour?”

She tilts her head to the side, observing the young boy. “Jongin? Taking a bath?”

He laughs coldly, takes his seat. The table is all set too, which he thinks at first glance might just be the wrong home. “And mother?”

“She went to see Sangsang the doctor.”

“Why? Is her kidney bothering her again?”

The question fades into her almost mindless stirring and birds chirping, in the silence of the meal, boiling; eventually Seulgi turning around and serving a bowl to Jongin, as she sits across him without uttering another word. They usually are not as quiet as today, but the situation calls for it. And Jongin knows that Seulgi knows what the situation is, and why of all things to have for breakfast if there is even such a meal existent in their routine, is meat. A stew of vegetables thrown in but mostly deer meat. From her hunt yesterday, he assumes.

“She’s a princess after all,” Seulgi confirms.

He stops, mouth hanging a little open, before gazing at the girl who everyone thinks is his female replica. They are not siblings, Jongin sometimes justifies, and that is relevant and true. She’s paler, most definitely, her hair ebony black, and deep russet eyes mere slits like daggers that can be fatal upon each glare, but he swears she’s one of the kindest people ever to walk the planet (a contradicting trait in fact, when they are hunting).

Jongin looks away and swallows. “Do you think if I attend her engagement party, unmasked, what are the chances she’ll recognize me?”

“I think,” she grimaces, “if you attend her engagement party, you’re one mad man.”

“But I love her.”

She rolls her eyes. “No one is saying you don’t.”

Jongin’s ears turn a little red, almost fuming, as his fist curled when he pounds the table in disappointment.  “If I love someone that much, I just can’t stand here letting her marry a man her heart isn’t even with? Fuck traditions.”

Seulgi eats calmly, unperturbed still. “Again, she’s a princess. Now eat up, father told me we are to pick up some vegetable boxes by the porch today at noon.”

He dismisses his bowl, wipes his mouth, and stands up; he pulls a coat from behind the door. Seulgi looks up, slightly panicking now at what ideas might have struck him.

“Jongin, seriously! What is wrong with you?”

Inhaling deep, Jongin pauses by the doorway, turning back and holding his hand out for her to reach. The sun’s just peeking through the mountainside along with the shadow of the palace on top, which overlooks the whole of Sangdokchi. Seulgi’s been thinking about it lately: his impulsive mood rushes that will get even the wisest elder confused. Sometimes she’s hesitant about them, his emotions, if ever he can see through the pretense of hiding behind a mask every night for the last five years, enchanting, seducing, making love to the Sangdokchian heiress, in hopes that it will change anything. It doesn’t, he knows that.

But Jongin’s always been a stubborn ass.

She takes his hand anyway.

-oOo-

“Wake up! Today’s the day!”

Things to remember when in the Honsang palace: (1) the higher monarch, the King and Queen usually travels; (2) this means their oldest daughter, duchess Boa heads all decisions while they’re away; (3) Honsang is a nation of crops, so anyone who refuses potatoes at their dining table shall be sent to the dungeon for a month.

Peeking from behind the curtains, the sun slowly brightens up the otherwise constantly dark room of the young prince as the woman ties them together a pair, each in every window and this stirs the young prince from his slumber.

He rubs his eyes, body refusing to get up. “I don’t want sweet potatoes for breakfast.”

“You have no choice, child.” She almost sings her response, such a joyous tune, in fact.

He cringes at this. “I still much prefer a good sleep than breakfast anyway.”

The lady lets out a hearty laugh before sitting at the side of the boy’s bed. “Have you lost track of time? Today is the engagement party.  _Your_ engagement party, Sehun.”

Rolling his eyes and struggling to sit upright, the prince clicks his tongue. “What I don’t understand is why we still continue to have stupid traditions. It is almost the 18th Century and we are behind from the Western countries. We’re even behind China!”

She nods and understands his reasons. “Does it bother you that it’s Krystal? Or does it bother you that you will be ruling over Sangdokchi in the next months?”

“A little of both,” he grumbles. “Well, mostly because it is Krystal. You should have seen her face at the Elder’s Circle when they announced the spring union of the Sangdokchi princess and the heir of Honsang. I also do not understand how if she is to be my wife, then why on earth can I not rule over Honsang instead?”

“It is not your fate to be the ruler of Honsang,” Boa responds. “It has been decided on your birth, we were all read and who you are fated to be with. Honsang is in my hands once father and mother retire the crown. And while my marriage is not until a year till then, it is also very near.”

“Easy for you to say,” he scoffs. “You’re marrying your best friend Yunho. What about me? Why not Honsang? I am the heir to Honsang, it should’ve been me.”

Boa’s smile never faltered. “But darling, who is going to rule over Sangdokchi? Prince Changmin forfeits his eligibility to the throne due to medical conditions and you cannot lead a nation when you are half-dying. You are chosen to marry her because it has been seen even at birth that you will remarkably lead a nation as powerful and as magical as our neighbor. It is one of the highest honors.”

“Yes, I heard that story too many times,” Sehun feebly complains, slumping back into the covers. “Irene noona tells me she is the luckiest amongst us siblings because she does not feel any pressure yet in regards to marriage or ruling.”

Getting up now, Boa grins back. “Irene is set out to be engaged in two years too, as one of the Kings from the Northern Kingdom is going to pass it on to his son. Do you remember Junmyeon, right? They are to be wed soon, but you cannot tell her just yet. Let the free spirit be free while she still can.”

Sehun remains still, merely fiddling with his fingers and watching as Boa opens the windows, takes out his expensive outfit for tonight’s event, and the tailored suit for his travel, and at the same time nagging him to take a jasmine oiled bathing for today. He eventually follows orders, obeys them just for today he thinks - he will be after all, away from Honsang for quite a long time he might as well be polite.

“So you have met Krystal recently? At the Elder’s Circle?”

He shrugs, emerging from his closet, as princely as one might suggest, while tidying the collar and cuffs. White suit, white shoes, like snow, like winter. Like yesterday. Spring encourages the land of Honsang to grow, to be bright. It is not his favorite season if anyone ever paid attention to what his favorites are. Perhaps that is why he is a little cranky (“You’re always cranky,” Irene would say) on most days of where it’s expected of him to be sociable.

“She looked surprised,” he replies, escorting his sister out and down to the dining hall. “Her mouth opened a little wider and her eyes grew bigger. I don’t know if it came as that much of a shock. I don’t think it was a shock, though. I think she knew she will be getting married, but she wasn’t expecting it’d be me.”

In this morning’s course, there is sour cream soup, cheese and buttered mashed potatoes across the table, wheat bread to pair it up and tea cultivated from Japan he reckons. For some reason he feels light today, not as nervous as yesterday, but definitely not better about the inescapable fortune.

Boa chuckles. “Does it hurt your ego? That she doesn’t want you to be her husband?”

Dropping his spoon at the comment, Sehun frowns, picking it up and wiping it against the napkin to his right. He dips  He points it at his sister, then saying, “Now, any royal family would love to have me as the next ruler. But ruling a kingdom as powerful as Sangdokchi with that… that child, is a punishment.”

“It’s hurting your ego.”

He sighs. “Noona, just don’t say anything at tonight’s dinner. I cannot afford to be embarrassed in front of them.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me, worry about your sister Irene. She’s going to be talking about how you manage to keep your chambers in total complete chaos for a month, even with the house cleaners helping.  Trust me, she did that during my dinner with Yunho’s.”

-oOo-

10:00 AM. The princess eventually finds her way into the dining hall, and her family, as much as she’s more reluctant to force them in discontinuing the preparations because she obviously is nowhere near ready, hustles to get the palace ready for the Duke of Honsang’s arrival. Everyone, including the pets, from the royal terrier to the stead, begins to feel the intensity of tonight’s event.

Well, except for her brother, who is, indisputably, still at the table. It’s the first genuine smile she produces for today. She slowly slips into the seat across him, greeting each other with a lazy good morning.

“Duty to the kingdom or duty to the heart?” Changmin suddenly speaks up, eyeing the girl from across him, while finishing his prunes and swinging the spoon in front of him as he talks.

She’s not making any effort to disguise her frustration. “Oh, so you’re still here?”

“I am talking about the Duke of Honsang,” he elaborates. “As far as I’m concerned, I do know that as of this moment you do not love him. Simply because, well, you do not see each other in the same way most children your age feels when they are being put into an arranged marriage.”

“Oh please. I will bet my ass and my metaphysics books that 80% of  _arranged_  marriages in the royal hierarchy all started out very unhappy and/or not in love,” she responds. “Therefore, upon my rule I am certainly amending the bylaws of this state to completely disregard the act of forced union. And then promote it in the commission of the Wise, so that all nations will no longer be entitled to give their sons and daughters away to people they are gravely unattached from, to both an emotional and mental scale.”

“Someone’s a little ambitious,” Changmin smirks. “Do you suppose that marriage should be entirely counted on love? You know how that idea is stupid. While you may love someone, he or she might not be fit to rule a kingdom. Let us not talk about social structures because even some princes and kings are not properly educated, thus proving to be unworthy of ruling a kingdom. This is not your average board game after all, wherein when you win you eat the cake.”

Krystal nods, taking her cup of tea and blowing away the steam. “Yes. But remember when you fell in love with someone who wasn’t your betrothed -”

Her brother clicks his tongue, stopping her. “I was very young. Sooyoung’s my best friend. I loved her because of that.”

“Sitting on the throne is not a board game indeed,” she corrects. “Because when you lose, you lose the whole kingdom, you lose your whole damn life.”

Changmin falls solemn, noting what her sister had done 4 years behind them. “I am forever indebted nonetheless for that act of bravery.”

“I’m afraid that is not anymore in the news, my brother,” she grins, sipping her tea. “When will the Honsang people arrive? Did they specify how long they are going to make us wait?”

The older prince shakes his head. “My my, still with such an insensitive mouth.”

“Well, they  _are late_.”

“You haven’t even bathed yet, and you are accusing them of being late, they are obviously on their way by now.” He checks the clock hanging just above the doorway to the kitchen. “You better doll yourself up if you expect the duke to marry that mouth of yours.” He gives a soft bow at her, before quietly following the sound of Minwoo’s voice in the open hallway towards the throne room (everybody else is in the throne room - completely engulfed in the task of smartening its atmosphere. They want to give off the best first impression after all.)

“He’s marrying this mouth, this mind, and this entire kingdom! If he’s refusing me, he’s refusing all of us!” Krystal cries after her brother, laughing.

Then all at once she feels alone. The whole dining area has been completely left for her to finish this brunch she has no further intention of eating. The walls seem to spread out even wider, the ceiling just a little bit too higher, and the noises from the other room - Yoona demanding someone to redo the curtains, the queen proclaiming this is going to be the best night ever, and Minwoo singing his favorite song - little by little, fading away. The mirror across her now gets more apparent, her appearance finally examined through her own eyes.

Her eyes - though almost as dark as coal, appear bright with the tampering of sunshine, for some reason a little brownish even, complementing her brunette hair. It’s longer now, wavy and a little unruly but it is too early to worry about having a bad hair day. Her face has grown extremely beautiful - in everyone’s eyes, perhaps, and most especially in Jongin’s. The mere thought of him draws a smile across her pasty pink lips, and if anyone asks (to which no one will because nobody else knows) if she misses him, she’ll blurt yes without hesitation.

She misses him, even though she hasn’t really seen how he looks like. The refusal to show his face to her has given Krystal nightmares - of what he might look like behind the mask. His eyes are wolf-like, she’s seen them, and his lips, she’s felt them too. How she is afraid of someone so dear and yet mysterious turn out to be just a mere ghost, just a mere figment of an imaginative mind intoxicated by her over dosage of dark magic?

“Krystal?”

Daydreaming will never be free, Krystal assumes. She turns to the door and sees Yoona beaming. “Yes?” she wonders.

“Do you wish to practice some dances with us?” the older princess questions.

And Krystal, in her lack of interest, nods and leaves the table, unable to bear the complete seclusion of her presence. She needs not be left alone with thoughts of him, or else the engagement, the marriage, the whole coronation and reign will never occur while he still clings to every fiber in his system.

-oOo-

“Jongin, let’s go back.”

Seulgi, as unwilling as she sounds like, grips on Jongin’s sleeves with footsteps still following him, as he ventures through the borders of Sangdokchi, darker than anywhere else, or so he claims, but shows no sign of fear over this. In fact, he appears like an old hand, veteran, expert - he was here _before_ , Seulgi concludes.

“No, not yet, I don’t think I’ve shown you this place before.”

“It’s so dark and we have been walking for hours! I can barely see anything!” she snaps.

“It’s just been three hours, stay calm,” he smiles a little, puts his index finger on his lips and adds, “Look, just keep quiet for now, okay? Hold my hand because you’re such a big baby.” She does, slipping her fingers and gripping his hands crossly, but he laughs it off, knowing that this is Seulgi’s way of communicating playfully (painfully, is the word).

The cracks of twigs and branches breaking as they track the outskirts of the nation gets Seulgi’s hair standing, and she’s a hunter, she is used to getting lost in the woods to pin down ravage beasts and protecting smaller creatures who have no homes (she builds them one).

“Jongin, I am scared.”

“There’s dark magic,” he answers when she quivers closer to him. “I’ve placed dark magic around it, forces around a radius quarter of a mile, so people tend to be overly frightened for no apparent reason. I can be quite territorial if tried.”

“Can you turn it off then?”

Jongin laughs. “Such a child. Of course I can’t. If there’s anything about practicing the dark arts, it’s that it is easier to conjure something out of the ordinary, but quite difficult to resolve or undo it, and at the same time an antidote.”

The sky suddenly starts beaming over them, behind the thick dwarf trees and lemon sprouting trees. It’s a cliff, the highest one in all of Sangdokchi, and if Seulgi remembers it correctly - a place where most navigators use as a secondary landmark, to note that they have finally reached the nation of Sangdokchi. The sea ground beneath though, betrays the scenery, for any wrong move, any wrong step, and you’ll fall into an unfavorable death by rock spike formations below.

Seulgi presents an uneven smile. “So this is it? This is what you were thinking earlier that made you put away food?”

Jongin lets her sit on one of the rocks, and sits on the ground, back leaning against her. “This is the Yeoldong Cliff. This is the highest point in town after the palace, which looks over like it was heaven. These two points, the palace, in fact Krystal’s bedroom, to this steady point here - this is where I would sit watching her. When I told her about it, she has forbidden me to come here and instead demands I stay with her for as long as I can.”

“Pervert.”

“Shut up child, I am trying to tell you something very sentimental and you repay me with such judgment,” he dismisses, cackling at first. “I considered the offer, I stayed with her until the day, it’s been announced that she will soon marry the duke of Honsang. I am not sure who is, or what he looks like or what he can do, but I cannot do anything about it, can I?”

Seulgi shrugs. “It’s fate, Jongin. You can’t change that.”

“It’s not fate,” he says flatly. “It’s tradition, it’s the thing royal bloods and the Wise and Old bestow upon each and every generation to conserve the peace amongst nations. It is not fate. It is not love.”

Jongin looks at the sky, almost praying for the best in his behalf, because unjust as it may sound like, all the more that he’s been left no choice but to leave. He gets up, pulls a tubular glass like telescope from the upper branches of a tree and passes it on to Seulgi. She wows at its ability to scrutinize even the smallest detail inside the upper east wing of the palace. “And now I’m back here, to where I could see her. From afar. That’s all I could ever do.”

“Maybe it’s something that you’re meant to do, you know,” Seulgi explains. “Maybe you and the princess aren’t meant to be anywhere near each other. Maybe for a certain moment in time, you get to be but you know, what else is there in this world that’s every permanent, right?”

“There is pain,” he says, glaring into the horizon. “It is fairly constant.”

Seulgi’s uneasiness causes her to stand, sighing, and then putting a hand on his shoulder. “Come on, Jongin. I can see the trading ship reaching the docks. We should head there to get the vegetables father is expecting us to gather. So that’s another three hours back, right?”

Inattentive, Jongin props the telescope to the docks and gasps. “It’s here.”

“I know, exactly why I am suggesting we leave,” Seulgi adds, starting her way back before Jongin grabs her again by her wrist and spins her around.

“Wait, no I mean, they’re here. The duke of Honsang.”

She almost gives out a cry. “Jongin, shouldn’t you just let this go?”

“I can’t just let go, Seulgi,” he argues. “Not when it’s Krystal.”

He runs to a dead trunk and squeezes his arm through its hole, pulls out a bag that appeared to be full of peanuts but Seulgi has yet again been proven wrong.

“What are those?”

While taking small ounces from the bag, he opened his palm to show little brown smooth rocks. “They are called travelling stones. I mutter some incantations and indicate the destination.”

“You actually made… those? And they actually work?” Seulgi cannot anymore distinguish what seems to be real and what isn’t when it comes to Jongin. Then again, when has she ever grasped the concept of his perception and existence anyway?

He smirks subtly and requests her to come closer. She does. “Now close your eyes and wrap your arms around my waist.”

“You’re such a pervert.”

“Not now, Seulgi,” he mutters. Carefully meditating into that state of mind, he starts whispering the words of the unknown,  _Sunghol Yunchen Singpan_ and the list becomes endless until he states the address of a small alley street in Sangdokchi and before Seulgi even tries to open her eyes, Jongin has let go of her and starts walking briskly.

Her head starts spinning incredibly, her vision a blur. “Jongin! Jongin, I can’t feel anything.”

“The aftertaste of short travelling is bitter like medicine. I don’t know how to fix that yet,” he rushes immediately to her side, pulling her with him. “Let us hurry. We still need to dress up for tonight’s party.”

 


	3. Papercuts

A white carriage pulls over at the front gates of the Sangdokchi palace, and everyone else within starts to panic at the said arrival, except for Krystal, staring at herself in front of the mirror as her maids styled her hair into small curls at the end. They paint her lips with a light pink color before letting her slip into one of her long dress ruched bodice, ivory in color to match her shoes, which she hates entirely because they feel like weights on her ankles.

Five hours till the engagement party, and she is meeting her fiancé for the first time in 3 months since they have last seen each other at a meeting, almost not even noticing each other until both their attention have been called for. It hasn’t occurred to Krystal then she will be marrying him, nor has she recognized him to have grown to quite a dashing man himself, if she has given some thought in that.

Krystal decides to meet them at the courtyard where the two royal families are to have lunch together. By families this only includes the siblings from Honsang for the Prince and his wife have travelled to the West: Duchess Boa, eldest and responsible, who is to be soon wed to the King of Taemoon; Duchess Irene, lovable and innocent, who is so petite Krystal cannot tell the girl is three years older, and of course Sehun, the wannabe King Krystal’s going to marry. In her side of the family the attendees are the most immediate ones, the Queen of Sangdokchi her mother, and of course the trying-to-be-an-overbearing-brother Prince Changmin.

She wears a flower crown instead of her traditional headgear, and while it fits the setting of the garden in the courtyard, she sets no impression to the duke, with how she looked today. It is not that she aims to impress him, but she does want him to appreciate how much time and effort it is taking her to get out of the bed and get the today over with.

“There she is,” the queen says almost proudly as Krystal, slouching and barely raising her head up when Sehun crosses his arms upon her entrance. She can feel his eyes burying deep into her skin – the kind where she just wants to blindfold him and punch him in the face.

“You’ve grown so beautifully, Krystal,” Irene comments.

“Indeed,” Boa agrees.

She finds her seat next to Sehun, shifting his gaze from the food being served to their table then back at his foot. “Good morning, Krystal.”

“It’s already noon,” Krystal retorts, “ _Your grace_.”

“Still a sign of being polite,” Sehun says stoically. “ _Mi’lady._ ”

Patiently observing, Changmin chuckles. “They sound like they are going to kill each other once we leave them both to themselves. And to think the wedding will be in three weeks.”

Laughter fills the table, including from the soon to be married pair. Falsely at least, just so everyone else will be at ease at their interaction. Boa puts a hand on Sehun’s tensed shoulders, as if reading him just as fast as well.

“There is disregard for traditionally marriages from the youth today,” Krystal opens the subject, getting a shake of the head from Changmin. “I do believe that if it were possible, may we be the last generation to suffer such injustice towards the choosing of a monarch fit for a kingdom.”

Boa smiles. “I have been warned by Changmin beforehand that you have a critical way of discussing issues. But dear princess I believe it is up to a jury from the Wise to definitely have those rules amended. I do think that’s quite an idea.”

“This is me asking you, your majesty,” Krystal adds. “As the youngest court leaders of the Wise Council, may I suggest you bring such point to their table? Let it be served in their presence for a more harmonious union of future generations.”

“Actually, Princess Yoona has once thought about this before too, right after our marriage,” the prince interrupts. “I think when father sat as one of the court leaders he has discussed this and was turned down.”

Krystal’s eyes widen. “You did not tell me about this earlier over breakfast.”

“Do you even listen to me when I talk over breakfast?” Changmin questions and she falls silent, slightly embarrassed that she has once again looked like she talked before knowing the facts. “Precisely. I think Father himself told us before that while this suggestion is yet being imposed and decided on, while the old rules still prevail, you and the duke will still be married.”

“I hope the duke does not take any offense from this,” Krystal side eyes him and Sehun shrugs. “But I do want this pushed. It is unfair for the people, and almost always unhealthy for parties who might be into an abusive union since they do not know their partners well.”

Sehun smirks. “I actually agree with Krystal on this. She might end up abusing me while we’re married. Even beforehand.”

She nudges his ribs, “All you had to do was nod, Sehun-ah.”

“But you already know Sehun,” Irene responds. “He is not like any other prince and he will surely serve your kingdom well. I think you even look quite great together, don’t they?”

Pleased with that statement, everyone else including the couple all found themselves smiling at them.

“Besides it is an honor to have the only son of Honsang’s ruler, is it not?” the Queen, Krystal’s mother herself, suddenly speaks and Krystal agrees too – that is of duty, honor, integrity and grace. She may not love Sehun along the process; at least she is bringing Sangdokchi some pride into having the next in line king an heir from a powerful kingdom.

“We must get everyone ready for the ball tonight,” Changmin then concludes, drinking from his warmish tea. “The drinking ceremony and the dance of course. At 6 PM sharp, in the throne room.”

The sun is high above their umbrellas, casting minimal shadows and an widespread warmth of spring. Small talk occurs between the Honsang sisters, a stoic Sehun observing the garden, Changmin and the Queen all grins as they decide where their guests may stay the night (and hopefully, Sehun be not in her room, Krystal thinks) – it’s most likely that she’s never felt this alone in a long time.

Everything about this convergence feels too fake and hasty.

“Yosh!” Changmin has got to stop using that expression, Krystal broods over. Ever since after his journey to Japan last month, he has been using those foreign words as if they are his own and as if he actually knows what they mean – it is deliberately quite humiliating. “Let us have your majesties to their rooms so we can all prepare.”

“Will I be staying in Krystal’s chambers?” Sehun wonders as they walk back to the palace.

Krystal then scoffs. “We’re not married yet.”

“Is it too late to refuse getting tied to this woman?”

“Is it too early to hit Sehun in the face?”

Irene giggles, whispering to her older sister. “Such charming children, aren’t they?”

-oOo-

When in Byungmi you let the logging be a growing commerce – Nichkhun has been taking note of this from his father for the last two years he has sat in the throne to become the ruler. Four years ago, he has been just one of the men from the docks, carrying packages from overseas and delivering them to houses. Four years ago, he has been a nephew to the local blacksmith, a cousin to now his brother-in-law to be. Time has been long but also quite swift and in passing – he can never really tell if it still is all just a dream or he really is now a leader and a man everyone in this kingdom looks up to.

“Ah, he kicked!”

Nichkhun turns to his queen, sitting and beaming on their bedroom still in her robes. His hand falls on her protruding belly, trying to feel the next heir of the throne as it moves.

“Two more weeks, and you will finally see the world, my son,” Nichkhun whispers, putting an arm over Victoria’s shoulders. “I cannot wait till you meet your beautiful mother and the people of Byungmi.”

“Yah, Nichkhun! Qian!” In his pompous yet speedy footsteps, a man, well - Nichkhun’s cousin to be exact, barges into the royal couple’s chambers, grinning as he parades around in fine well-tailored clothing that of a knight, and his boots as dark and as heavy as his eyes were. “Don’t I look dashing?”

“What I do not understand is why you never call them your highness or majesties,” Seohyun follows right behind him, in her flowing ruby dress and undone curls. “Honestly, I have tried to teach him to at least call you that but it seems he cannot outgrow his old habits.”

Victoria laughs. “He cannot outgrow the friendship and easy name-calling in between us. It is good to see you all ready for tonight’s event. I wish I could attend the engagement ceremonies of young Krystal.”

“The child is a complete miniature Changmin. Even the way she speaks, it definitely runs in their blood,” Kyuhyun professes. He shudders, looking down for attention. “My boots are perfect, are they not, Qian? Do you remember when we were in island of Yesseu? I could have kicked those ghouls better if I had worn these.”

“Who will ever forget the Yesseu adventure?” Nichkhun manages to say after pensively remembering those days. They have been those paradoxical days – the darkness merging with the light, the ocean meeting the land, the undead chasing after their lives. An island oftentimes only heard in storybooks mothers will often read to children in order for them to do good while they still can, when witches and warlocks have been vanished for the safety of everyone. Dark magic is chaotic, but at the same time – an immediate source of luck and fate.

He pulls out his ring from underneath his shirt, Seohyun’s ring already exposed by her neck – and for one second Kyuhyun can attest both actually glimmered too much in response to each other. Maybe the sun has casted a mighty ray over the glass window, but he knows, living with the ring for most of his seventeen years, that it is their mother, the late queen’s soul, reacting.

“We will be back as soon as dawn tomorrow, my love,” Nichkhun tells Victoria, kissing the side of her head and clasping her into a strong embrace. He rubs her stomach and beams. “You too, my prince. Father will be back just as soon.”

Seohyun gives Victoria a hug as well. “We will bring back sweet mangoes, your majesty.”

“Do not give birth while we are away, okay Qian?” Kyuhyun almost orders, leaving the rest of them laughing before exiting the chambers and leaving Victoria to her musings, alone, in a kingdom she still has yet to learn to rule.

-oOo-

She stares at the mirror stretching her eyelids as far as they can while applying more colored powder to match the color of her dress. Adds more paint on her lips, fans herself from the heat of the sun. There is excitement from the way her cheeks ball up and a smile is drawn from ear to ear. From the back, he watches her prepping herself, at the same time half-trying to stay awake.

“Taemin, do you think Krystal will bail? Because I would if I were her,” she states gently.

The boy sighs. “We know Sehun because he has grown up with us. But I think he will fulfill his duty first and live rather lowly beside Krystal, the next queen. I am sure he will mature in the years to come. He has a lot of unfruitful wisdom I must say, he might as well put it to good use.”

Sulli nods. “My cousin is indeed smart. I am a little worried that while they may have brains beyond their age, they will bicker a lot, quite much more than Prince Changmin and Krystal does. At least she refrains sometimes because he is older but with Sehun, well, I won’t expect. They have different principles, and you cannot absolutely strip yourself off of principles easily.”

“They are bound to get along, books, horses…” Taemin responds, trying not to sound skeptical about the relationship but realizing that Sulli does have a point. “That is about it, I reckon? Oh dear, Krystal might be facing more headaches than taking care of the kingdom.”

“Exactly,” Sulli sits beside him and takes his hand. “I’m scared they might kill each other in their sleep.”

He chuckles, dabbing his thumb underneath Sulli’s eyes. “Darling, although that is likely, they are civil human beings. At least, for as long as we have known them.”

 A maid knocks at their door uncomplainingly, peeking into the room. “Your majesty, you are required at the throne room in an hour. The ceremonies will begin at sundown. Princess Krystal expects both of you to be there.”

“Yes,” Sulli smiles softly. “We will be there by then.”

-oOo-

A deep orange seals the sky, with droplets of blue and pink at one side of Sangdokchi. Forests always darken faster than most areas, he’s proven that enough, as he treks the woods by foot, hooded in a cloak he has always worn when he visits the princess on ordinary evenings. But tonight will be no regular evening – today he is going to lose Krystal.

“Jongin, just stop this please.”

“It is either you come with me or I leave you behind,” Jongin mutters, stomping on twigs as he halts, for his extra traveler pauses.

She shakes her head, ears already fuming red as she pulls off her hood. “You are like a brother but if it means having my head hang just to display in her majesty’s courtyard then I refuse.” She takes a step back, and another, until she causes Jongin turning his back to chase after her as she retreats into woods.

“Fuck it, Seulgi this is not the time!” he shouts, following her, who has been taking larger steps, faster ones too. “In fact we barely have any time left.” She does not heed his words, venturing back.

“Why is necessary that I go with you?”

“Because,” Jongin nearly steps into a snake’s nest, hastily jogging forward to avoid more dangerous homes. “Because I need you to help me cast a spell around the palace. I cannot take Krystal with me if everyone is wide awake. That would be too noticeable.”

Trying to hold back her anger, she answers back, “And why would you want to take her? Take her to our home? Dammit Jongin, are you that stupid? Are you that in love that you stopped using your brain for a girl who has never bent the rule for your mere existence?”

They reach the river, the waters mirroring the skies hue. She takes off her shoes upon reaching the closest shore, dipping it into the light stream that flows, in order to clean it.  Afterwards, she washes her feet. Jongin catches up, huffing for his breath and calming himself down as he sits beside her, doing the same procedure to ease the tiredness from today’s activity and magic.

“I feel quite vulnerable without my bow,” Seulgi admits, looking down in peace now at both of their reflections in the water. His features are chiseled with time, almost enhanced by it even – those eyes carved like that of bears, dark hair tousled beneath the hood, lips gasping for air from all the running, skin in shades of caramel. Her skin is lighter, eyes slightly resting yet at the same time, alert for any danger. Her tresses cascades down to her hips, unlike its braided version earlier.

“I want to go back, Jongin,” she whispers. “Please, let us not continue this.”

“But what about Krystal?” Seulgi almost murmurs,  _“What about me?”_  But that will lead to him convincing her more to go.

Seulgi sighs. “She is a princess. If she loved you truly as you say, then why will she choose to continue with the ceremonies?”

“Because it is their tradition,” Jongin replies. “It is how they see things. That arranged marriages provide a treaty of nations – provides a sharing of wealth between nations. It is not about love, it is about the preservation of culture and wealth. It is a rich man’s game, Seulgi. I have already told you this story over and over.”

She shakes her head lightly, looking at him now, as the shadows hit him from behind in a slight glint. “Everyone has the right to choose, even the royal blood. The current monarch has the liberty to decline the offer until further decisions.”

Jongin breaks into a laugh. “And... that means?”

“It means she could have chosen to decline getting married at age of 20,” Seulgi defends. “She could have delayed her union with the duke of Honsang if she had said she will, but did she ever refuse that offer? No. Because Jongin, to me, the princess loves her kingdom more than she can ever love another breathing soul. Against all the lives of her people? I doubt it. If she loved you, she would have requested the Wise Council to extend, to not sit as queen. If she loved you, as you say she has, she would have chosen to delay the ceremonies. If she loved you, she would have been here telling you about this, so you have time to prepare for that day she will be forced to marry.”

“That is not true,” Jongin dismisses.

She takes his cheek, turns it to have him staring back at her. “Believe me, when I say that it is true. Will I ever lie to you? If I know it is for your own good and happiness?”

Jongin’s eyes start to be teary, gritting his teeth. “That is not true!”

“And if you choose to see her tonight, say your farewell,” Seulgi suggest. “Say your farewell. It is time we also leave Sangdokchi. Mother and father have been discussing it last night, rushing to leave tomorrow at once. We cannot stay here. We cannot stay where you are the most vulnerable.”

“She makes me vulnerable,” he whispers, doing his best not to sob in front of her. “I will lay down all my cards and tricks and cloaks and potions – she will catch me naked and unprotected from anything, she can strike daggers bare into my skin and I will still love her.”

Seulgi wraps her hands around him, biting her lips. “Jongin, it is time you stop loving something that will only be a weakness. That will only cause you pain.”

“But she is also my strength, Seulgi,” he replies, half-sniffing, half drying his eyes. “She is everything to me.”

“She is not,” she instantly splashes water into his face, bringing him back to reality. “She is just the princess and she might as well be everyone else’s everything. But not yours. You have more power held back all because you think you are in love with someone. That someone unable to even prove it.”

“What should I do?”

“Tell her you are leaving,” she says, standing up. “It is time.”

-oOo-

The palace has never been in such uproar since Changmin’s birthday celebration. There are many important people from different kingdoms invited over, some workers and laborers and close friends of the royal family from the middle class manage to get in as well – it is not even the wedding yet and it appears as though everyone flees in to have a glance at the future rulers.

The tension does not fade away even after the uncalled for short meeting with the siblings of Honsang, but Krystal cannot even cope with a normal breathing pattern as her bodice is laced behind her back, crisscross till her waist, dark hair even styled to match the Queen’s curlier form when she has been Krystal’s age. She stares up at the portrait of her mother in the hallway just outside her bedroom, and so finds the beauty they all say she has inherited. The eyes in particular, if she must comment; they have been hers all this time.

“Are you not going to the throne room yet, milady?”

Startled, she jumps a little when he stands beside her, not even making any sort of sound of his presence. “Sehun. You do realize you need to be in the west wing, not in the east if we are to make an entrance at the middle staircase or have you forgotten the bearing?”

Sehun smiles. “I am aware. I just found my way here through the library and I got a bit lost. And now I do not anymore know where to go. All I know is that this is your chamber and my chamber is across yours.”

“Well,” Krystal puffs, shaking her head. She points to her right. “You can take this hall here, turn right twice, and you will be finding yourself in the other parlor room. Before you enter, look right and head up the staircase, you will reach the balcony towering over the throne room. You’ll find your way from –”

Her attention is caught by an odd clicking of the knob from inside her room. Her eyebrows raise a little, before turning to Sehun who also wonders why she has stopped giving directions. She bites her lips, the color in her face starts to get drained away as she slowly walks towards the door.

“Sehun, you’ll find your way when you get there,” she rushes to finish.

“Yes, but –”

Krystal slips into her bedroom before she even lets the duke end his sentence, only to be surprised by the reward waiting for her inside. Her mouth drops wide open at his presence and it is not a common circumstance for they have not seen each other for about a week. Her dreams about him have been endless and surreal, even she herself cannot distinguish reality from fiction.

“Jongin.”

He sits on her window seat, scrutinizing her up down before speaking, a voice filled with anxiety. “Answer me as honestly as you can. Are you allowed to choose whether or not to delay a ceremony such as an arranged marriage, perhaps?”

Her smile falls off her face, as she approaches him, little by little falling worried. “Where have you heard of that?”

“Just answer me, Krystal!” He cries.

“How dare you raise your voice at me!”

Puzzled, Krystal retorts in complete authority – something Jongin has never seen her before. Is it the effect of a nearing coronation? Isn’t that what she truly wants, after all? And not this, not having a secret affair of someone she has deemed to have loved dearly? Jongin moves forward, pressing her against the wall.

“And how dare you for not telling me that you had a choice,” Jongin says. “How dare you for leading me to believe that you were forced into this without your consent, only because you are the heir of Sangdokchi. How dare you for not telling me enough the reasons and the actions of the royal mind. Is that what you think of me, Krystal? That I am stupid? That I am merely just some affair you can have and then leave behind right after you’ve chosen what to do with your life?”

Tears are falling from both of her eyes as Krystal chokes, “Jongin, that is not true. You don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand.”

He lets go of her and waits for her to calm all the emotions –sorrow, hatred, pain to come out in that instant. “It… it is not in me to anymore prolong an objection against my coronation. I had to agree. Or someone may take the crown.”

“Why can’t someone else take it? Why do you have to be queen? Why do you have to be married?” Jongin bombards her with questions he has always wondered at the back of his mind. “Why can’t you stay with me instead?”

“You are out of your mind, Jongin!” Krystal cries. “I cannot leave this kingdom. I cannot forfeit the crown. What has my parents done that have gotten their children to shame their lineage to the throne that neither one of us becomes its ruler? Do you think the Wise Council will wait sixteen years for Minwoo my nephew to grow up and take the throne? No, they will not wait for anyone from my blood anymore. They will have someone else to fight for it to take over. And that ends, completely extinguishes our royal blood.”

Jongin looks at her, deadpanned and completely still. It takes him another minute to fully release his final words. “So the throne really does matter to you … more than I ever will?”

“I’m sorry,” Krystal grimaces, gradually discoveries his hands but he pulls away at once. She finds his face, takes off his mask, realizes his lips finally, and traces all of his image into her memory, let it last let it last let it last –

“I’m sorry but I cannot love you anymore,” he decides, opening his eyes to meet hers. “I’m sorry… that I have even tried to love you in the first place.”

Her eyes refuse to stop tearing. “Please, Jongin. Please believe me when I say that I love you. I always have and always will.”

“Goodbye.” His smile breaks more than a heart Krystal has one to own, her soul at the same time crashing with it when her vision blurs and the lights went off for a second or two. She opens her eyes and there is a horrendous shriek of terror coming from downstairs, from the throne room if her senses are correct.

A hasty knock from her door gets Krystal to her feet, and it is none other than Sehun himself, perplexed but at the same time looking relieved before yelling, “She is in her chambers!”

“What… what’s going on?”

He takes her out quickly and requests she runs as fast as she can to the scene of the tumult – overhead she notices people are gathering at the center almost in a circle, Prince Changmin standing out from amongst them calling them off to take steps back.

“Give her air! Give her air!”

Krystal dashes into the throne room, Sehun leading her towards her family as they group in one corner. “What’s going on? What is it?”

Changmin, out of breathe, turns to Krystal, checking for anything, like cuts and bruises she infers (and thank goodness her heart is not on her sleeve anymore). Her eyes slightly reddens though, but they can be allergies, she’ll reason out.

“You are unhurt, correct?”

“Yes I am, I was just inside my room,” she answers, the crowd of people finally giving space before Krystal catches Princess Yoona on the floor, unconscious. “What happened? Is she alright? What’s going on?”

“Right after the lights went out, Yoona fell to the floor,” Changmin answers. “It appears that her ring’s been stolen. The powerful Byungmi ring.”

 


End file.
